


Rainy Day Women

by mydeira



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 15:29:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/901901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydeira/pseuds/mydeira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate Lockley comes home to find an unusual intruder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rainy Day Women

**Author's Note:**

> Written for duckytears in the Illyria ficathon (on LiveJournal in August of 2005) who requested post-“Not Fade Away” with Illyria becoming more Fred-like, also include Kate and Wes, and no fluff. I got everything but Wes, though he does get mentioned. Hope you enjoy. And my eternal thanks to my beta, Savvy.

If she had been smart, Kate would have left LA when she had the chance to make a clean break.  But having been born and raised in the city, it just didn’t feel right to leave.  Few friends, no family, the only thing that really kept her there after getting fired from the department was the affordable rent of her simple apartment.  And now, after three years of living off her savings, the meager inheritance from her late father, and the occasional free-lance investigation gig, even the affordable rent wasn’t enough incentive any more.

 

Tired, hungry, and drenched from the storm that had been raging since mid-afternoon, Kate was looking forward to a quiet night in front of her TV.  She had shut and locked her apartment door before she realized that she wasn’t alone.  If her instincts hadn’t gotten stale, she would have realized it before she even put the key in the lock.  Not that the intruder made it difficult for her to find them by standing in front of the lightning-lit window.

 

“I am armed,” she announced, pulling out her ever trusty but not entirely legal sidearm.

 

“Your weapon cannot harm me,” the figure spoke in monotone disinterest.  “But keep it if it gives you comfort.”

 

Ignoring the chill the flat voice gave her, Kate reached over and flipped on the lights, keeping the gun trained on the intruder.  The woman standing before her in no way resembled the voice she had heard in the dark.  Tiny and pale, the woman’s face was hidden by a curtain of rain-soaked brown hair.  By the looks of things, her weapon could do great harm to the thin, shivering form.  Still, she had learned all too well that appearances were deceiving.

 

“I needed a place to hide,” the woman spoke, this time with a southern drawl.  “There was nothing more I could do.”

 

Not letting her guard down, “Who are you?”

 

The woman blinked, looked down at her hand, considering.  “The shell.  Winifred Burkel.  I did not intend its form.”

 

The shell?  Did not intend what?  What kind of—of course, a demon of some sort.  Couldn’t just be a woman in need of help.  To further drive the point home, the woman transformed before her.  The simple rain-soaked clothes became full-body leather and the hair turned from brown to blue.  The face was similar.

 

“What are you?” Kate asked, not liking the touch of fear she heard in her own voice.

 

“I am no longer certain,” she shook her head.  “I was Illyria, but they weakened me, trapped me in this shell.  There was nothing left so I fought with them.  But they were all mortal.  Even the half-breeds.  They fell, but I did not.  Wesley was the first.  And Angel, fittingly, was last.  But I am still here.”

 

Kate seized on the familiar name, “Angel?  What happened to Angel?” Not that it should surprise her any.  Couldn’t be any random demon or person, no it had to be someone tied in with Angel.  Three years did seem about right for a nice reminder call. 

 

Luminescent blue eyes seemed to see her for the first time.  “You knew the half-breed?”

 

“I did, once.”

 

Cocking her head to the side, Illyria or Winifred or whoever the creature was seemed to be analyzing Kate.  “The shell has no memories of you.  How did you know him?”

 

Shouldn’t she be the one asking the questions?  Instead Kate replied, “We worked together on a few cases.  I used to work in the LAPD.”

 

The woman held up her hand, a blue current flowing between her fingers.  When she spoke, it was Angel’s voice, “For all our contacts, I still wish we had someone in with the police.  I wonder what ever became of Kate.”

 

In her own voice again, “He would have been pleased to know you were still alive.”

 

Kate wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.

 

“You seemed surprised.  Was he not your friend?”

 

“I wouldn’t say we were friends.”

 

“Then why do you show concern over his death?”

 

Why did she care?  They had parted on amicable terms, maybe with an understanding of sorts, but it had been final.  And yet, “What happened?”

 

“He fought a losing battle and almost won.  Foolish half-breed and his ideals,” Illyria said derisively.  Again she changed before Kate’s eyes, back to the unassuming brunette with her soft drawl.  “Angel was the bravest man I ever met.  Did you know he saved me once?  Brave man saved me from the monsters.  No shining armor, but he had a horse,” the fond smile faded to blankness.  While her form did not shift, her voice became flat, “But now I am the monster.”

 

“Because you lived and they didn’t?”  The situation struck Kate eerily like she was talking to a jumper.

 

“Yes.  My time has passed; I should not be here.  I realize that now.  But even gods can be fools in their pride,” Illyria spoke with effort.  “I took from them one they dearly loved.  But what does Illyria care for the feelings of lower beings?  Time and worlds were mine to command.  I destroyed millions like them and rejoiced in their destruction.  Now I grieve.  For the half-breed and his friends and the one who hated me the most.

 

“Because he loved me so much,” the human voice came forward then receded.  “I took the shell away from him and still he helped me when the others wanted to destroy me.  Human nature and its contradictions sicken me.  Showing compassion toward that which you also loathe?  It is illogical.  And I was indebted.  So I gave him the shell when he died.  Now I mourn his loss against my will.”

 

She grew quiet.  When the silence had grown almost unbearable.  “I shall leave you now.  I apologize,” the word was said with uncertainty, “for any trouble I have caused you.”

 

The woman turned to the window and started to climb out.

 

“Wait,” Kate called out.  “Where are you going?”

 

“Does it matter?” the dead voice asked.

 

“Not to me,” Kate said frankly, “but it would to Angel.”

 

Head tilted, considering.  “But he is no longer here to care.  None of them are.”

 

“Isn’t that all the more reason for it to matter?”

 

“It is an option,” Illyria climbed out the window.

 

Minutes passed before Kate put her gun away.  She walked over and securely latched her window, staring out at the alley below.  None of it mattered to her anymore, hadn’t for a long time.  Maybe it was time she left the city.  Walk away from the fight instead of just hiding from it.  Right.  She could no more do that than she could stop breathing.  It was in her upbringing and in her blood to stay in the fight.  True, she had been on the sidelines for the past three years, but it might be time to change that.  Not that she had any choice in the matter.

 

As if to further prove the point being made to her, the lightning flashed illuminating Illyria just hitting the alley pavement.  No, it never could just be a chance meeting, could it.  Grabbing her raincoat, Kate left her apartment to track down Illyria, because it did matter to her after all.


End file.
